Fellow Tea Addicts-How do you keep from going broke?

I am broke as well and that is why I live with my in-laws; they ignore me and seek their grand-children on me. so I am this old woman fending off nephew of 17, 22, 11 years of age. Children today don’t know to be seen not heard; and they know how to get others to do what they should be doing.

I forgot that this is a tea question? I buy teas when I can and it is mainly on impulse since the guilt of shopping (I am a shop holic/mania) yet I don’t own a suit ; just lots of mis-match. I am saying after giving money to consignment shops what little there is left go to this church that I have been attending from time to time and to tea. Where we do groceries don’t stock teas but Arizona Iced Tea.

There is an answer to the question, surely I have explained the plight of this soul. I cannot keep from going broke since I have no income, I am broke. Thank you very much for asking!

The only things I really spend money on are my pets and tea. I used to have a much larger budget for tea but now that I’m a broke college student all over again I feel all guilty spending a lot of money. (I’m going to go crazy when I graduate, haha!) For now, I usually make a wishlist of tea/tea items that I want. Then if I still want these items 2-3 weeks later I will purchase them from my tea budget money. I was surprised at how many items lost their appeal to me after waiting a week or two, I guess I am a sucker for impulse buys! I am also trying to focus on getting through my massive stash of tea that I already have so that I can really get excited about new teas when I get them!

Haha, I used to be a total spendaholic, but my fiancee (ex Ed. Jones employee) reformed me. I now don’t feel quite as guilty about spending money on myself as long as it fits in my pre-determined budget. The dogs/kitties get whatever they need (or I think that they need), however, and that always turns my budget upside down!

As a grad student, my income isn’t exactly the best, and won’t be for a long time, I’m afraid, so I’ve been trying to hit sales and promotions. I also tell myself that I can’t make an order from X company until I finish the tea I got from Y company, or at least finish a certain amount in general before placing an order. Not only do I not have the luxury to just order whatever I want whenever I want, but it doesn’t do any good to have 3903483 teas lying around and getting old.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with one of my professors. She’s a huge tea fan too, but despite having a great position and I’m sure a great income, she drinks Tazo and such most of the time to cut down on costs, and mentioned that her favourite Darjeeling is much too expensive to drink on a regular basis, as she has kids to support.

I started a tea blog thinking I could earn some money on the side, but so far it’s not working. Although I love to blog about tea, it takes time to get enough traffic so I’m still broke, but at least now I’m getting some free samples :)

As tea – even quality tea – generally is cheaper per cup than most other beverages, incl. spirits, wine, coffee (at least nespresso) and fresh fruit juices, I don’t really see the problem. When I drink tea I consider it saving money in the long term.

At present I’m spending a lot of money on the THE O DOR tins but that’s because I just discovered the joy of better quality teas and owning a wider selection. Once the tins are up for refill the price will be much lower (on average some E 8,- or E 9,- per 100 gram). I don’t see myself buying 4 or 5 packages of tea on average every month of the year…

As far as the flavoured blends are concerned, I think THE O DOR is definately worth its price. At least currently it’s my favourite, with just one ‘miss’ (Place Saint Marc).

I’m not sure what is ‘pricey’ in your opinion or if the teas are more expensive in the US. Here, most teas are E 8,- per 100 grams without tin. Some even just around E 6,-. The tins almost always cost E 20,- and in most cases contain 100 grams. When you buy the more expensive teas (Milk Oolong: E 25,-/100 grams or Yin Zhen: E 30,-/100 grams) you get the tin relatively cheeper. With the Milk Oolong and Yin Zhen e.g. the tins contain 80 grams and 50 grams respectively and still cost E 20,-.

However Milk Oolong and Yin Zhen are plain teas and with such teas it may be another story. Afterall there are some pretty good vendors of quality plain teas out there and a brand (regardless which) doesn’t add anything to a plain tea.

Noteworthy may be as well that I don’t incur shipping costs as there’s a vendor close to my work.

I won’t be buying the Yin Zhen from THE O DOR anymore, as I can get almost the exact same tea through Tea-adventure at just 2/3s of the price. For the Milk Oolong I haven’t found an adequate replacement yet, so I’ll stick to THE O DOR for the moment. For the flavoured blends I hardly look elsewhere. The lack of shipping costs make up for the extra euro it may (or may not) cost.

I could have sworn I saw a site that sold THE O DOR in the states and the prices struck me as expensive, but I haven’t been able to find it again. Looking at the EU to US$ conversion, it doesn’t look prohibitively expensive, but I have no idea what shipping would cost IF they ship here at all. I also hesitate to buy more expensive teas if I have never tried or smelled them before and have to buy them in larger quantities from the start. I suppose when shipping a product overseas like tea, it makes sense to put it in tins to guarantee it’s kept stable flavor wise, but it does make buying samples a bit more difficult as well.

I have been quite curious about French teas in general since trying the Nina’s samples a few weeks ago. From what I can tell, those brands can be twice the amount or more than the brands I can easily find here.

I’d be happy to send you some samples of the THE O DOR’s I have (e.g. 10 grams each). Maybe swap for something American? As long as we stay under the 100 grams it would cost next to nothing to send (ordinairy [letter]mail).

If you want to ship from Europe remember that you may incur VAT and taxes/fees for import and the like. Esp. on large® orders.

I considered shipping a $ 6,- tin of Harneys & Sons Queen Catharine to the Netherlands, but H&S charge about $ 38,- for shipping :-(

Oooooooo, I would LOVE to try some samples! My cupboard should be up to date. Take a look and see what interests you. I will be going out of town in a few days. If you let me know what you would like to try before that I can get it out to you while I am traveling. Otherwise I’d have to wait until I get back in April.